Thursday, October 29, 2009

Group Blog Thursday: Halloween Traditions


Halloween Traditions. That's the theme for this week's Group Blog Thursday.

I guess I talked about it a little bit yesterday, but I don't really do the Halloween thing much anymore.

When I was a kid, I used to love it. I would get so excited to pick out my costume. My mom usually made our costumes when we were young. She isn't the most amazing seamstress around, but she always did a good job.

I have vague memories of Halloween. Probably because it was just about costumes and candy. I know that when my parents were still together, my dad would take Marc and me trick-or-treating around the neighborhood while my mom stayed home in her witch outfit, pulled the big wooden rocking chair out onto the front porch, and passed out pencils or stickers or something similarly non-cavity-inducing.

When we got home, Marc and I dumped our plastic jack-o-lanterns out onto the floor of the Family Room, sorted every last piece, and then began the trading. There were always a few things one of us didn't like, and we had this weird habit of making sure we both had similar numbers of Snickers bars of 3 Musketeers or Smarties. (The American version, not the Canadian ones.) It didn't matter, though, because our dad someone always got into the buckets overnight and raided the best stuff.

I don't really do much these days. The last couple of years, our Job's Daughters have run a small game booth at the city's Halloween carnival. It's fun and there are all kinds of kids in really adorable costumes. Last year, I was home by 9. This time, I'm determined to be home by 8. I have scary movies to watch.

So I guess that's my new tradition. Volunteer at the carnival and then go home, alone, and watch scary movies.

There are worse ways to spend All Hallows Eve.

**By the way, I'm also Guest Posting over on Jennee's blog at Cheap Therapy. Stop by and read up on why Ogden, Utah is a great place to visit!**

***And for those of you that live/d in Ogden, just know that I was waxing a bit nostalgic today!***


Photobucket
Posted by Karen Peterson
This post is: 
at 7:30 AM
Labels: ,

16 comments:

  1. As I got older I started to just hand my dad the candy he'd usually take over night. That way at least I knew he had them and I wasn't being surprised in the morning when I woke up and didn't find all my candy.
    ReplyDelete
  2. I remember doing the candy inventory when we got home from trick or treating. That was always the best part! There were always the candies you weren't as excited about. Then there was a period where we had to throw apples away because of the urban legend about razor blades in them. We didn't know it was an urban legend back then...at one point hospitals were even offering to X-ray kids' candy for free because of it!
    ReplyDelete
  3. We have a Harvest Party at our church every Halloween. The kids get to play games and win candy. It's always warm and light! (Compared to dark and rainy when trick-or-treating!) It's been a wonderful tradition over the years! Enjoy yours!
    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my gosh, I DO remember sorting out my candy during Halloween!!! I used to hide the best candy because Mom would always take away our candy and give it to us piece by piece, but we would never see the "good" candy, so I would hide it before she would come and raid it.

    This year, I would not mind a nice quiet Halloween.
    ReplyDelete
  5. This was so fun to read! It brought back lots of memories and got me all excited! Yes def worse ways to spend halloween, and can I tell you how jealous I am that your town has a frickin carnival just for Halloween? WHAT? I wish!
    ReplyDelete
  6. there are def worse ways to spend the holiday - like with puking kids who have eaten too much candy :)
    ReplyDelete
  7. First, I can't access your blog at work now. It keeps freezing up. It's your blog and 2 others.

    Second, we never had any traditions! Boo.
    ReplyDelete
  8. I only watch cheesy scary movies by myself! ;-)
    ReplyDelete
  9. ooh, watching scary movies by yourself? You ARE brave!
    ReplyDelete
  10. Hey Karen! Thanks for stopping by my blog :)
    ReplyDelete
  11. How fun! I have the opposite experience- I grew up without doing Halloween. So now I love doing Halloween! I love passing out candy and I love getting costumes for the kids and getting around the neighborhood. Most of the candy they pick up goes away... which feels like a horrible waste. This year, we are joining an effort made by our church youth group and doing something I did in college- we will ask for a canned or boxed pantry item to donate to the local food pantry. To make up for all that thrown away candy.
    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Again! I just joined the Group Blog Thursday because of your blog. :) Thanks for sharing. I'm not much into Halloween either except for the scary movies. I love those!
    ReplyDelete
  13. I do love getting to pick out the candy to give out to the kids, although in my old place I gave out Milky Ways the first year and became sort of locked into that.
    ReplyDelete
  14. No real traditions yet over here either. The carnival sounds like fun, the scary movies not so much! :)
    ReplyDelete
  15. Hello my friend! We have three parties to attend....thankfully my ladies are easy to please when it comes to costumes, etc.. P.S. I always buy giveaway candy that I like myself....just in case of leftovers, or I change my mind about giving it out in the first place. I'd rather trick-or-treat for tacos, wouldn't you?! Have a fun movie night!!!
    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Karen,
    Thanks for visiting my blog and introducing me to yours - I love it! Your musings on Halloween traditions took me right back to my childhood when me and my siblings would dump out all the candy and trade. We too had the habit of always making sure everyone was equal but instead of my dad stealing the good stuff it was usually my kid brothers sneaking into the stash to get more.

    Have a great Halloween - enjoy those scary movies!
    ReplyDelete

"You know what they say. If you don't have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit by me."

~Clairee Belcher, Steel Magnolias

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)